[8] While obtaining his Juris Doctor degree, he focused his athletics primarily on weightlifting, achieving a 275-pound Olympic press, a 245 snatch, and 325 clean and jerk with a body weight of 180 lbs.

[4] The next year he won his class in the AAU Past 40 Mr. USA, along with the overall awards for Best Legs, Best Abdominals, and Most Muscular Man.

Titled Ripped: The Sensible Way to Achieve Ultimate Muscularity, the book detailed his fitness routine and how he reduced his body fat to 2.4%.

The book was originally sent to Bill Reynolds, then editor in chief of Muscle & Fitness, who shared it with Joe Weider.

[12] Bass and his wife Carol formed Ripped Enterprises the same year, a company he uses to sell his books and related items.

From 1984 to 1994, he published additional books including Lean Advantage, a three-book series composed of various writings from his time at Muscle & Fitness.

His books led to a series of DVDs, which he first released in 2002 in collaboration with Wayne and Tina Gallasch of GMV Productions.

[15] Photos of Bass from ages 15 to 70 are on display in the Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports at the University of Texas at Austin.

[16] In 2013, experts in exercise physiology gathered at the Stark Center to celebrate Bass' lifetime achievements and discuss his book Take Charge.